This new pitcher plant, named Nepenthes pudica, lives on the island of Borneo in the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan.

Common pitcher plants create tubular traps with a slippery surface above the ground or in the trees, trapping any insects that are unfortunate enough to get inside. Finally, the trapped prey is killed and dissolved in the digestive juices at the bottom of the tube.

“However, Nepenthes pudica is different from all known pitcher plants,” said botanist Martin Dančák at Palacký University Olomouc in the Czech Republic, lead author of the study. “It places its up-to-11-cm-long pitchers underground, where they are formed in cavities or directly in the soil and trap animals living underground, usually ants, mites and beetles.”

Nepenthes pudica is the first carnivorous species confirmed to use pitfall traps specifically in the subterranean environment.

“Nepenthes pudica grows on relatively dry ridge tops at an elevation of 1,100-1,300 m. This might be why it evolved to move its traps underground,” said Dr. Michal Golos, a researcher at the University of Bristol.

“We hypothesize that underground cavities have more stable environmental conditions, including humidity, and there is presumably also more potential prey during dry periods.”

According to sci-news.com